How would one darken/age red fabric without actually dyeing it with fabric dye?

[Egon Spengler]

I have some red fabric I need to darken and age just a bit. It's not 100% natural fibers and I was wondering how I would darken and age it a bit? Instead of having it look like the red on the left, I'd like it to look a little more dirty like the one on the right.

I've thought of washing the fabric over with dark acrylic paint, but how do I get that to permanently stay on the fabric?

I've also heard of people using permanent markers mixed with alcohol in a spray bottle to "dye" fabric, but I'm not sure how that works.

I don't want to just put it into a dye bath because I want to have a lot of control over how it'll turn out.

Thanks!

 

[montysaurus]

Americana Fabric Paint Medium & fabric paints at Joann.com Use something like this.

 

[Egon Spengler]

Thanks, Monty!

 

[PaulMmn]

Try painting/dipping the fabric in tea or coffee... I don't know how colorfast this will be, but repeated applications may do the trick. Try this with a sample swatch first to get an idea how 'dirty' it will look.
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--Paul E Musselman